blag changez & C-side weekend

salut, tout le monde!

first off, i just want to let you know that i added more photos to my picasa page from the past few weeks (the same ones you'll find on facebook). it's such a huge mess right now and i apologize but since i have the photos organized on my laptop AND on facebook i really don't feel the need to organize them AGAIN somewhere else. plus, i'm not even really sure who looks at them so...yah. OH and some of the pictures were taken by my friend nicole from our trip to london and paris earlier this year. she was much better at including HUMAN BEINGS in her photos so i threw those in to make it more interesting for y'all. THANKS, NICCI P.!
also, i think i figured out how to change the settings on comment permissions so that ANYONE can comment, whether or not you have a gmail or blogger account. can someone give it a shot and test it out? thanks!
and i changed the song at the top of the page. it's the same artist, though. can you guess who it is? i know robert already knows!!

right quick, except you KNOW i've never told a quick story, i wanted to tell you guys about mine and megan's weekend visit to the seaside on the 12th and 13th. we were invited by one of megan's profs référents, laëtitia, and her partner? husband?, valentin, - they're pacsé, which is joined in civil union - to his family's little cottage in Les Grandes Dalles, which is pretty close to the other seaside town i visited earlier this year, Fécamp. p.s. they're a really nice couple and we've hung out with them before so it wasn't an awkward invitation at all.
valentin took megan and i and laëtitia's sister in his car for the hour drive. there were many winding roads in the countryside and the french are big fans of the roundabout, plus i was hanuhungoverukkah, so i felt nauseous pretty much the whole way there. when we finally arrived, i let out a lil' lady burp and said EXCUSE ME!! MOM! don't worry and saw this:

now, i realize from this photo it doesn't look so bad but in real life this house was like 20' x 20', the windowpane was shattered and the door was rotted. and i'm thinking, "valentin said we were going to get our own rooms? uhhh, NO WAY." but then valentin starts walking up a little hill away from this SHANTY (joking!) and we see this:

so cute, right? well it was just as cute inside. except the heat didn't work. or rather, valentin said the heat DID work and was recently repaired but it must not've worked unless you were sitting on top of it so we had a fire roaring in the giant fireplace all day and into the wee hours of the night to keep warm. it was so cold we had our coats, hats, gloves, scarves, boots, etc. on and it was still frigid. you could even see your breath in the house!

while we were waiting for laëtitia to drive up with her OTHER sister and her 3-month old kitten, valentin, megan, barbara and i decided to walk to the beach and climb up the cliffs. it was also FREEZING and windy there but very beautiful. here are some favorites that i took:

 

 

 

 

after that, we returned home. the girls finally arrived with the adorable chaton, winston! here he is:

he was SO energetic and playful and believe it or not, although i haven't taken my medication in a while, he did not really aggravate my allergies. maybe he's too young to start producing the protein allergen in his saliva, i dunno! but he really made me miss my maugwi...who, dad said, killed a mouse yesterday! blunt trauma to the head, apparently.

after sitting around and talking for a while, valentin made us fondue savoyarde for dinner which was AMAZING. i got kinda shaky, as i tend to get around cheese, because it smelled SO GOOD!

after dinner, we talked some more and eventually retired to our rooms. i had a hard time falling asleep because it was so cold (i was still wearing all my winter gear in bed) and i was convinced i was going to see a ghost in this centuries-old french cottage!! i swear i'm 23. but i FINALLY fell asleep and took some pictures in my room in the morning:

the next morning, megan and i cooked the frenchies some american pancakes with syrup and we headed out relatively early to return to civilization and warmth.  

it was a great weekend!

un miracle de noël

before even looking out the window i knew it had snowed this morning. for one, they've been predicting flurries, not a blizzard, for the past 2 days and two, there was no sun shining through my shutters at 8h30.

the snowfall was nothing substantial (see photos), especially by chicago standards, but it's a lot for rouen apparently and early in the year for this meteorological phenomenon. they maaaybe got an 1/8"!

outside ma windah.

the abbatiale.

when i came home from the gym this morning, about to get into the shower and take the bus out to mont-saint-aignan, i noticed i had a missed call and a voicemail. i listened to the voicemail and it was one of my profs référentes, annie, who told me i shouldn't come to school today because it was "too dangerous in this kind of weather"! WHAT?! so, i called her back thinking she couldn't be serious. but she was! she said it had taken her 2 hours to get to school and hardly any pupils had come. in weather "like this", the buses run infrequently or not at all. i guess they have no public works division that salts and plows the streets plus there are many hills in rouen and its surrounding agglomerations.

DONC, all of my tutoring lessons for today have been canceled, i've been told NOT to come to school today or tomorrow so my christmas break starts RIGHTNOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! if it only took an 1/8" in chicago for a snowday...sigh...i'm a little sad i didn't get to say goodbye to the students at jean de la varende but, oh well!

christmas cookie baking begins in T-minus 1 hour!

another quick story:

tuesday at english club i had all the kids make christmas wish lists just for fun. i translated what they wanted in english and then they wrote the french equivalents next to them for their parents to read. so, yesterday at the beginning of class, one of the little 5è girls (7th grade) from english club came up to me and handed me her wish list. she had gone home and continued to work on it (without me asking her to) and attempted to translate the rest of her list herself. i was absolutely THRILLED that she did this and she did an excellent job, too! A+ for effort.

so, i'm reading her list outloud and right after her requests for clément garcia to be her boyfriend and some CDs she wrote "and I want (que vous veniez à notre spectacle demain)." she didn't know how to translate it into english but it reads "and I want you to come our pagent tomorrow." as soon as i read that, all the girls in the class were like "YEAH! YEAH! YES, MISS!" so, tonight my roommates and i are going to the 5è classe christmas choral pagent. doesn't that just melt your heart kind of? aww...

❄  ♥ ♥ ♥  ❄

a lil' history leçon!!

half-timbered homes from the middle ages! gothic churches! joan of arc! cobblestone streets! gustave flaubert! as i pressed the rouennais for more history about their wonderful city one of them recounted this little jewel from it's more recent past.

DISCLAIMER: NOT for the faint-of-heart or easily nauseated! and do not, DO NOT, do a google search on Issey Sagawa. seriously, don't.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/prison-cannibal-attack-chills-france/2007/01/07/1168104863500.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1

p.s. the doctor that i tutor told me a friend of his performed the autopsy on the inmate who was attacked and said that he was most likely alive during the feast up until a certain point.

AND AND AND - there was a THIRD DETAINEE IN THE CELL during all this?!?!?!?!?! what the FUNK was going through his mind? ? ?

update

xmas shopping DONE, officially broke, nursing MY FIRST! ✡ hanukkah hangover ✡, leaving for the seaside in 2 hours...

:]

I SPY ASSISTANTS!

how to play:

hit ctrl + click on the photo to enlarge it.

now:

1. can you spy Lauryn?

2. can you spy my 2 roommates?

3. how many redheads can you spy (hint: there are a LOT)?

4. can you spy someone who looks just like Pete Moss if he were a rocker in a shitty band in the first 2 rows?

5. can you spy those over 30?

6. can you spy Kinzie?

7. can you spy the native French speakers in the first row (hint: there are 2)?

❅and i'd like to give a shoutout to my newest reader, Mary Kay. hey, girl!

preeeshus! isn't it, yes?

i can't wait to see this!

oprah! lenny kravitz! mo'nique! mariah carey without makeup on! i don't care about tyler perry, though. ROBERT - don't see this without me!!!!!!!!!!

2 B Franch (& sanksgiveeeen)

welp! it was a thanksgiving miracle!! the assistants got paid on the 26th instead of the 30th. not sure why they decided to deposit the paychecks on a thursday but we didn't spend too long trying to figure that one out. th€ am€rican assistants in franc€ w€r€ grat€ful for many things that day...

in case you're wondering how my thanksgiving was - it was great! my roommates and i were all invited to a friend's apartment about 5 minutes away to celebrate. megan made green beans with slivered almonds, lisa made a pear crumble with ice cream à la mode and i made the cranberry sauce. except i forgot the raisins!! oops, nobody knew. a spanish and a chinese assistant joined us as sacrificial thanksgiving virgins (they're also kinzie's roommates) as well as another american assistant, darcy, and kinzie's mom, grandma and brother who were in town visiting. we had SO MUCH FOOD. it was amazing, especially considering most of the cooking was done at kinzie's and all she had was 2 hot plates, a toaster oven and a microwave to cook with. there was corn bread, vegetarian stuffing, banana bread, creamed corn, lentils with goat cheese, sautéed mushrooms and zucchini, toast points with carmelized onions and brie, steamed carrots with butter, a little chicken and i think more that i've since forgotten due to the food coma i was in. plus, there was tons of beaujolais as this is its peak saison and we had some benedictine as an apéritif. yum and fun! we seriously laughed and joked the whole time (in french and in english since not everyone knew both). kinzie's family was wonderful and made us feel like we were in their own home for a traditional thanksgiving meal. we even went around and said what we were thankful for...awww.

thanksgiving is not one of my favorite holidays for many reasons, especially since i don't eat turkey or like football, but this year made me realize how much i take the day for granted. i really enjoyed my french thanksgiving but i would've given anything to be with my family. here's a picture my dad sent me (this year was at todd and kelley's condo). lovin' that shirt, sam! and how come there ain't more wine in them glasses?! fill 'er up, kath!!

ok, now let's get down to what this post title is referring to: french mannerisms. these are things the sociologist in me has observed. i'm not trying to be mean and i'm not trying to stereotype. all i know is that the french people i've encountered tend to do / be these things more often than other people i've met. americans in france - back me up here!! here goes.

• tardiness. as lisa likes to say, "the french have a fluid sense of time." it is perfectly acceptable to be late by up to 10 minutes to virtually ANY appointment (maybe not job interviews and surgeries). and the french often are. hey, that works great for me!! except when i get impatient and leave after 5 minutes thinking they're not coming. hop-là!
• talking to themselves. THEY LOVE to do this. it made me so uncomfortable at first to be in the computer lab with one other person and all of a sudden they start talking in full voice and i'm thinking 1) were they talking to me? 2) what did they just say? 3) how do i respond? and 4) do i care? so to be polite, i kind of just slowly turn and give 'em a closed-mouth smile and then when they keep talking i say something like "oooh." or "c'est vrai?" and feel even more uncomfortable. then they start to slap me across the face and i don't know why! haha no, but really this scenario took place a couple of times before i realized you don't look for an answer to a rhetorical question. so i just let 'em be. lil' cuties.
• lines. they don't exist in france. seriously, they don't. ok except maybe in a store or a post office where they have little ropes that FORCE you to form a line but other than that, not really. try walking down a school hallway during passing periods! YAH RIGHT! in france, everyone fends for themself and just kind of places their body close to the front of whatever they're trying to get to. it's also something they make fun of the british for: always "queuing".
• walk of shame. although a fashionable bunch, the french do not find it taboo to wear the same outfit 2 days in a row. depending on what you did on day 1, you might not want to wear your outfit on day 2, but you could, if you were in france. this makes walks of shame a lot less...shameful. not that i know personally!! this habit might also cause one to smell, let's just say, not quite as fresh as they did on day 1. GRAB YOUR BAGUETTES AND DEAL WITH IT!!!!!!!!!!
  
• along the same lines, the french are a lot more laidback than their american step-cousins. there is no sense of urgency among the french. things get done when they get done, and it doesn't matter who it's inconveniencing or who's paying for it. nothing is so important. this is not surprising in a country that places just as much importance on leisure time as it does work time. they have 5 weeks of vacation every summer, not to mention state holidays and school vacations (if you're a teacher or a student). WOW! i could get used to living in a place like this. BOI-OI-OI-OING!!!!!!!!!

anyone else have any french mannerisms they'd like to add? BE NICE!! after all, i'm like 1/128th french and i might take offense. but once i get my DNA tests for christmas (please, mom and dad?) then i'll know for certain! :]

k, i'm sick of typing. read this, i wrote it yesterday:

for better or for worse, european style is starting to have an effect on me. i've taken a fashion cue from amy winehouse a certain colorful british celebrity and bought me some pink ballet slippers to wear as...shoes. i know, i know - slippers AS SHOES?!?! you must be wondering if i've gone totally bonkers. well, that's for you to decide!

à votre santé! *Lauryn

ahhh p.s. i taught my 3è and 4è euro the cha cha slide today. they LOVED it!!

A++++++++

she do it again!

if you like the song, watch the video. c'est vraiment géniale!! oooo, except i hate that woof woof lady gaga! GET OUTTA HERE GOOGOO GAGA!

Beyoncé ft. Lady Gaga - Video Phone

♥

fotoz 4 u

hey kittens, i finally got my photos up on picasa! flickr didn't work out in the end. anywho, here's the link. and, oh hell, let me embed this little what-have-you that they gave me, too. ok great.

ENGLAND & FRANCE

i apologize that they are NOT in chronological order but eventually i will rearrange them and add some silly captions. BABY STEPS, BABY STEPS. maybe i'll even add some of the pics that nicole took, if she don't mind? in the meantime, if you have any questions about the photos, just leave a comment or email me! i plan on putting the new photos up on facebook once it will let me...*(#&$!@)^% that photo uploader tool!!

azúcar!

oh yah, i found this sweet video today of a song i love and wanted to share it witcha.

below is celia cruz's version. at first, i thought she was a crazy, old, eccentric cuban lady who sometimes appeared on sesame street that robert and i used to make fun of (see why). maaan, was i wrong! she da queen of salsa!!

Celia Cruz - Pa'la Paloma

lil' shortie

today i'm sick. BLAAAH! yesterday, too, but i couldn't go to the pharmacy because almost EVERYTHING is closed on sundays or closes before i venture out into the world. i almost never get sick *knocks on wood*. i think it's just a head cold, ya know, sore throat, nasal congestion, runny nose, sneezy, etc. but yesterday i had a little chest pain and today i feel a bit achy, warm and tired because i didn't sleep well last night. it's kinda hard to breathe through a stuffy nose and a sore throat, ya know? don't worry, though - i went to the pharmacy FIRST THING this morning and they gave me an armful of sprays, drops, tablets, lozenges and other goodies. i'm starting to feel a little better already and my appetite is back. finna heat some of these bad mothers up for lunch:

they're called 'pommes duchesse' and i got them from the frozen food store, picard. yes, there is a store here for JUST frozen foods. i love it! they taste like french fries on the outside and mashed potatoes on the inside. oh my YUM! gonna have some soup, too.

on friday, my roommate megan was kind enough to offer me an extra ticket to a viewing of tod browning's 'dracula' that she was taking some of her english students to see. the film was shown at a performance theatre as part of normandy's music, dance and theatre festival in autumn. they played the movie in its original english form but the theatre had also set up 2 monitors on either side of the stage which displayed the french subtitles so the rest of the audience could follow along. THEN, they had a small musical ensemble on stage who played the original score of the movie live throughout the whole thing. it was really cool! the movie was good, but in terms of classic horror films, i think the 1931 'frankenstein' is still my favorite. i was even the bride of frankenstein for halloween in 8th grade and won a prize in the costume contest at school...c'mon, let me have something!

thanks(?) to the private lessons i've been giving each week, i was able to join a gym here (sorry, eliot!). it's right by my apt. and has exercise and weight machines, free classes, a pool, a jacuzzi, a sauna, a steam room, a tanning bed (extra) and really killer techno beats playing during operation hours (freeeee!). so far i've only gone once (my membership started yesterday!) but i hope to get my butt over to the gym as much as my schedule will allow. i think it's going to be a good way to quit smoking and to balance all the delicious food i've been shamelessly enjoying! also, i think it'll be a good stress reliever because we all know how stressed out i was before leaving. it's definitely not as good as depaul's gym but it ain't bad! each week i'll post a photo of my abs to show you my progress. except that i'm busy this week. and i think i'm going to be busy next week, too. probably the week after that as well...

welp, c'est tout pour aujourd'hui. à la prochaine fois! -Lauryn

better days.

don't eat me!

lundi maniaque

COUCOOUUU! my boots came today!! this is AWESOME news and not just because it's nice to get new things or to receive packages. i've wanted these boots for a long time and waited an even longer time to get them due to some paypal confusion. EH! it's even more awesome-r because it rains kind of a LOT in rouen - did i happen to mention that already? - especially these days as the rainy season has seem to set in. imagine walking on uneven cobblestone sidewalks and streets in ballet flats or taking the shortcut through the park and being forced to make a choice every other day: walk through a giant puddle or walk in the mud. being in wet shoes is SO UNCOMFORTABLE...besides, it means death for your chaussures. and when it's pouring rain? just forget about it!! UNLESS YOU GOT ON THESE BAD BOYS:

yep, those are them. all the way from Scotland. the color is merloooooot. they're good for cold weather, too. i haven't tried 'em out yet but i can't wait to! i sort of hope it rains tomorrow...

there was a request from my dad an avid reader to know more about my day-to-day routine. since the only routine i have takes place more or less during the week, i thought i'd give you my class schedule + some details. 

monday through wednesday i teach next door at collège fontenelle.  

monday afternoons, i hold meetings for a stupid (pardon my FRENCH!) english club. then i have lesson planning with one of my profs référentes. mondays = fun days. so much fun.

tuesdays starting at 8h00, i teach 8th grade, then 9th grade, have a little break (some coffee, ya know, whatevah!!), then 7th grade - lunch, english club again?! - and end the day with 9th grade finishing at 15h20.

my day starts at 9h00 on wednesdays. i teach 7th grade, have a break, and then 9th grade accelerated english until 12h00. after that, i give 4 hours of private english lessons. i yi yi!! *there is no school on wednesday afternoons for most of france.*

thursdays and fridays i'm at collège jean de la varende in mont-saint-aignan, a well-to-do agglomeration of rouen about 30-45 mins. away by bus. i start at 13h15 with 9th grade, then i have a break, and then teach 8th grade followed by ANOTHER ENGLISH CLUB! that i have yet to start holding meetings for. i was told it would start on the 11th of nov.

fridays i begin bright and early at 8h00 with the 9th graders, followed by a 6th grade class which I LOVE because they're so innocent, cute and hilarious! and then i end the day with 7th grade at 11h10.

i don't teach on saturday although most schools do have classes. saturdays are different every weekend and sunday almost always involves a trip to the marché at place saint-marc for fresh fruit and vegetables for the week. everything else in france is pretty much closed on sundays.

other things: i realized blogspot is not the best vehicle with which to share pictures so i'm in the process (it takes me FOREVER to do anything!! gimme MORE TIME!) of setting up a new flickr account. that way, i can share photos with those who do not have a facebook account. i don't want to post all my pics on FB, anyway. so stay tuned for that! that's gonna be fun, huh? haha i know vacation/travel pics are boring but i feel as if i should put them up just in case folks are interested. so, they'll be there if you feel like perusing.

also, if anyone is interested in writing to me (or if you want to send me an email), contact me at: kardatzke.lauryn@gmail.com and i'll send you my mailing address. can't be posting my full name AND my address on the web! the last thing i need is lindsay lohan at my door!!!!!!!

i love letters!

alright, kids. that's about it for now. hope you're enjoying the blog thus far. feel free to leave comments or send emails if there's something i'm leaving out that you'd like to see or hear about!

cheers,

 Lauryn & flat eric

FRENCH FACT O' THE BLOG POST: french decks of cards don't have an ace but rather a '1' card, which plays the same role. makes sense, right? kings are rois, queens are dames, jacks are valets and the suits are coeurs ♥, carreaux ♦, trefles ♣ and piques ♠. i won a deck of cards at a HypraBlindtest Spécial at a bar this past saturday. a HypraBlindtest Spécial is, i think, basically a guessing game. this particular guessing game was top 50 hits from the 90's. it was fun! we didn't know a lot of the songs but we knew some and megan, kaylee and i all got prizes each round! we had A LITTLE help winning, though...

and p.s. did you know you can STOP the music that plays when my page loads? i placed a music console with a 'pause' button directly below the polaroid photo at the top of the page.

sidenote!

i also wanted to mention that i've started about 5 different drafts and i'll be publishing them as i get around to finishing them SO i apologize if my posts seem a little out of order at first but the information's still all good and relevant! hey, i'm new at this. thanx & BISOUS!
-the management

T!d8!tz of tR!V!4

if you know me you know i love me some triviaaaaa! who knows just about every jewish celebrity in hollywood today? NOT ME!! anywheres, here are some interesting facts i've learned since moving to france. some of you may be surprised by them and some, not so much.


1) prune yogurt EXISTS and it tastes great! pruuuuuune.

2) the students at collège fontenelle can see my roommates and i while we shower. allow me to explain. here's how our apartment building is laid out in relation to the school:

ok, so the huge building is collège fontenelle. the little building to the right of it is our apartment building, the blue windows indicate OUR apartment (on the french 2nd floor, the 3rd american floor). our bathroom is on the other side of the apartment building facing the red windows which indicate adolescent boys staring back at us. YES, there is a frosted glass window in our shower and yahhh i did wonder if that was bad placement on the part of the architect but i figured someone would've told us that the frosted glass was faulty and although you can't see out you can apparently see in. well, someone DID tell us this...after we had already become ruined women.
p.s. we put some tin foil up over the window for the time being. eh.

3) everyone wants to bum a cigarette off you in france, even bums. EVEN 8 YEAR OLDS. c'mon, wait 'til you're 11 like the rest of us!! no, but really, they'll ask.

4) this might be one of the coolest things i learned since moving to rouen. get ready for this! HEDGEHOGS. RUN. WILD. IN. THE. FORESTS. HERE!!!!! at least in the forests of mont-saint-aignan they do. one day a professor was driving me to his house to give his daughters their weekly private english lesson and he swerved suddenly around a magpie (une pie)
in the street. this didn't surprise me because french people drive like they're being chased but i also noticed that the magpie was picking at some roadkill. the prof told me it was probably a hedgehog (un hérisson)!! naturally, i was very shocked and saddened to hear that but then he told me, oh yes, that hedgehogs run WILD in the forests here along with wild boar and deer. wild boar?! this ain't lion king!! anyway, i plan on taking a trip to the forest soon and i will let you know how cool the animals are!

5) another awesome forest-related fact: if you happen to go mushroom picking in france (which i REALLY REALLY want to do!), you can take your treasures to the PHARMACIST and they'll be able to tell you which 'shrooms are edible and which are not. but But BUT, you need to know what you're doing or go with someone who does otherwise one poisonous shroom could contaminate the whole batch and then next thing you know all your friends from the mushroom picking party are dead.

6) ok, maybe i'm silly for not knowing this but in UK english they DON'T call the last letter of the alphabet the letter 'Z' (zee). they say the letter 'ZED'! i never ever knew this! i know that's how you pronounce the same letter in the french alphabet but...i'm i the only one who didn't know this??

7) power converters are GARBAGE. this was SO confusing to me before i left and caused me a lot of grief. turns out, i just didn't have my facts straight. U.S. voltage is 110, european voltage is between 220 and 240. check your appliances (as long as they aren't ancient) for the INPUT voltage range and if it can handle between 110 and 240 or more, then you're golden. all you need is an adapter. almost every single electrical appliance should have the voltage range printed on it, usually in very small print. if you plan on traveling a lot or staying in a european country for an extended period of time, get one of these:

http://www.amazon.com/TRIPP-SUPER6OMNI-German-Universal-Outlets/dp/B00063E98U

a really useful power strip w/ universal outlets and a europlug which means it should be safe to use throughout continental europe. it is quite a bit longer than the typical power strip but it works great! i would NOT recommend using a U.S. power strip w/ a converter or using a converter PERIOD. not only did it fry my straightener and make my hair dryer smell like burnt pizza, it caused my roommate's outlet to start smoking. i'm not really sure WHAT these converters are used for, even the ones marked for hair dryers and straighteners, so just leave 'em alone. buy new appliances in europe if you HAVE to HAVE them and most hotels have hair dryers in the rooms anyway.

in the spirit of halloween, i'll close with the xray of my lungs from OFII (Office Français de l'Immigration et de l'Insertion). i don't have tuberculosis OR scoliosis! ain't that swell?

i hope everyone has a FUN and happy halloween! be well.